Critical reviews (by Lutheran pastors and church musicians) of books and other resources for Christian worship, preaching, and church music from a perspective rooted in Holy Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions and good common sense. LHP Quarterly Book Review asks, "Is it worth the money to buy, the time to read, the shelf space to store, and the effort to teach?"

Friday, July 22, 2011

FW: Talking to a friend today...

...about how the Lutheran Confession will NEVER be mainstream America - we can hang that up. Our doctrine of original sin and our rejection of freedom of the will in the unbeliever already signs our death warrant. Add to that our belief in the Sacraments - you know, like Baptism actually saving and the Eucharist being Christ's true body and blood for our forgiveness, and the word of our pastor absolving us from all sin, and well, most Americans will simply think we're nuts. Our clinging to the liturgy (in confidence that God's Word bears fruit), our hymns filled with doctrinal content, our insistence that words actually convey meaning (thanks, Pr. Speckhard) and that we walk our Christian pilgrimage both as saints (wholly absolved and perfect in Christ) and as sinners (struggling against hereditary sin until our last breath), all these mark us as "strangers in an alien land." That's NOT a bad thing. It's only a bad thing for those whose hearts are set on capturing America for our Church. I suspect we'll always be a minority here, but as long as we are true to our Confession of the faith, that's hardly a problem. The Lord will indeed draw His children and we'll happily continue to bear a witness that is neither welcomed nor appreciated.

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Martin Luther said:

"There have never been, nor are there now, too many good books."

LHPQBR

Welcome to QBR/Lutheran Book Review

Liturgy, Hymnody, and Pulpit began as a newsletter to pastors, musicians, and laypeople in the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod from our Worship Chairman to ease the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, and Hymnal Supplement 98 to Lutheran Service Book. Early on, we recommended books, CDs, and music. Those recommendations eventually became book reviews.

In Advent 2006, LHP Quarterly Book Review was born. In our first three years, we published 600 pages of book reviews and reviews of other resources, sermons, articles, and editorials.

Our archives are available as downloadable pdf files.

Beginning with Volume 4, LHP QBR switched to a blog format instead.

Since adopting the blog format, we have been able to forward interesting posts from other blogs for your consideration and reflection.

In response to an expressed need, we now have two sub blogs that both feed into Liturgy, Hymnody, and Pulpit Quarterly Book Review.

Readers that wish to only receive our original book and resource reviews and be notified of new resources that we have received may go to http://lhplbr.blogspot.com/, the LHP Lutheran Book Review blog.

Special Thanks to The Rev. Richard O. Boche, Wyoming District President

Contributors and Reviewers are identifiedat the end of each signed article or review.

Note:Unsolicited titles will be considered for review based on the time our volunteer reviewers have available,how interested we believe our readers would be in the unsolicited resource,and how closely related the item is to preaching, Christian worship, and Church music in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.

FTC Regulations Compliance

Disclosure of Material Connection: LHP QBR received these books or other resources free from the publisher. We were not required to write a positive review. The opinions we have expressed are our own.

While every effort was made to be as accurate and objective as possible, inevitably, the opinions of the authors of various articles and reviews will surface, and individually, we take full responsibility for them. Opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors, and may not necessarily reflect that of the LCMS, the Wyoming District, or LHP QBR.